ROMULUS, Mich. — A man who missed a flight to Los Angeles from Detroit called in a false bomb threat with the hope that any delay would allow him to get on the Spirit Airlines plane, authorities said Friday.

The 23-year-old man was charged with maliciously giving false information about an explosive.

The phone call caused a scramble Thursday morning at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The FBI said passengers on the plane were removed, interviewed and screened again. The flight didn't leave until six hours later.

“Making this kind of threat undermines our collective sense of security and wastes valuable law enforcement resources,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said.

The FBI said investigators connected the man to the threat through phone records. He was arrested when he returned to the airport for another flight Thursday night.

He “stated that he made the call with the hope that it would delay the flight long enough for him to make it in time so he would not have to take a different flight,” the FBI said in a court filing.

NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa sat down with Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. to discuss what it was like holding the Gilgo Beach serial killer in custody, Heuermann's penchant for Jack the Ripper and what his future likely looks like in state prison. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost; File Footage; Photo Credit: Newsday / James Carbone; AP Photo/File, AP / Richard Drew, Akira Suemori, Don Ryan

'They have plenty of time to get him if they want to' NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa sat down with Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. to discuss what it was like holding the Gilgo Beach serial killer in custody, Heuermann's penchant for Jack the Ripper and what his future likely looks like in state prison.

NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa sat down with Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. to discuss what it was like holding the Gilgo Beach serial killer in custody, Heuermann's penchant for Jack the Ripper and what his future likely looks like in state prison. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost; File Footage; Photo Credit: Newsday / James Carbone; AP Photo/File, AP / Richard Drew, Akira Suemori, Don Ryan

'They have plenty of time to get him if they want to' NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa sat down with Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. to discuss what it was like holding the Gilgo Beach serial killer in custody, Heuermann's penchant for Jack the Ripper and what his future likely looks like in state prison.

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